Jul. 9, 2013

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The Brent Spence Bridge (right) / Enquirer file photo

Where they stand

In January and February, the Brent Spence Bridge project was a hot topic in the region. Dozens of public meetings were held, Northern Kentucky groups and municipalities united to fight tolls on a proposed new bridge and a business coalition was running television commercials talking about the dire need for the project. But the project has been out of the public eye for more than three months. Here’s where key project figures stand:

• Northern Kentucky lawmakers: They remain opposed to tolling, leaving the project in limbo. Whether the project moves forward may be solely up to them, because the rest of the state’s lawmakers most likely won’t vote against the delegation.

• Ohio Gov. John Kasich: The Republican’s aggressive approach to the project has been scaled back because Ohio can only do so much – it doesn’t own the bridge.

• Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear: The Democrat’s administration has slowed the process of developing a finance plan, which will now be unveiled in September.

• Federal government: Lawmakers continue to say almost no money will come out of Washington for the project. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., last month introduced legislation to pay for highways and bridges with repatriated taxes.

• Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments: The transportation planning agency continues to champion the project, search for federal money and provide project updates to business and community leaders.

• Build Our New Bridge Now: The coalition formed by businesses on both sides of the Ohio River has been mostly inactive in recent months, but still has plenty of money for a lobbying campaign this fall leading up to Kentucky’s next legislative session starting in January.

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A financing plan for a new Brent Spence Bridge is expected to land in September and include a controversial call for tolls to pay for the project, The Enquirer has learned.

Seven months after the governors of Kentucky and Ohio signed an unprecedented agreement to work together and get the project done, transportation planners in both states are close to presenting a plan.

They say they have worked through the issues related to financing the $2.5 billion bridge replacement and highway overhaul, and fast-track construction plans remain on target.

The finance plan to be unveiled this fall will center on the use of tolls and include the rates that passenger vehicles and trucks would pay each time they cross the bridge, Ohio Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Faulkner said.

ODOT and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have been working together to write the plan. The new September date for presenting it would meet a Dec. 31 deadline set by the Kentucky Legislature, which has decision-making powers because Kentucky owns the bridge.

Kentucky lawmakers have said no more money will be spent planning the project after this year if a finance plan isn’t in place. The September unveiling would give lawmakers time to ponder whether they’ll approve the deal in the next legislative session, beginning in January.

Still, the project almost certainly will face a major hurdle – Northern Kentucky lawmakers remain opposed to tolling the bridge, and the legislature is expected to follow the delegation’s lead. Northern Kentucky motorists account for about 65 percent of commuters who use the bridge during morning rush hour, according to the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments.

“With all due respect to my friends in the Transportation Cabinet, it’s none of their business how we fund this,” said Kentucky state Rep. Arnold Simpson, D-Covington, the lawmaker most outspoken against tolls. “It’s not up to engineers on how to pay for this project. They should focus on how to run (the bridge) efficiently.”

See two designs under consideration

OHIO AND KENTUCKY WORKING TOGETHER ON PLAN

The bridge project has been mostly out of the public eye since the Kentucky legislative session ended in March. Lawmakers took no action on the Brent Spence Bridge before adjourning because a finance plan was not in place.

In December, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear signed off on a $4 million “value for money” study – split equally between the states – to lay out the finance plan. The project lacks significant federal money because of an earmark ban, and Kasich and Beshear have said tolls are the only way to get the project done.

By all accounts, the states have worked collaboratively on the project.

The Kasich administration has been aggressive on the bridge project, which for Ohio is part of a 17-mile overhaul of Interstate 75 through Hamilton County. Ohio at least wanted preliminary results of the study done in time to present to Kentucky lawmakers before their legislative session ended in March. Such studies typically take more than a year, transportation officials say, and Ohio was pushing for results in six months.

But Kentucky transportation officials wanted to make sure all options were explored before a final plan was presented. Ohio agreed and top state officials now will decide on the finance plan – not the consultants hired to do the study.

An issue for Kentucky involved KPMG, a nationally known financial and audit services company hired to help do the study. Kentucky wasn’t entirely satisfied with a tolling plan that KPMG developed for a $2.6 billion interstate bridges project in Louisville and Southern Indiana.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe declined comment when asked about KPMG, but said: “From Kentucky’s perspective, we didn’t need the (study results) as quickly as events seemed to be moving. There wasn’t a need to rush that through. Frankly, our people were pretty occupied with the project down in Louisville.”

Kentucky began work on the Louisville project last month.

A draft of the Brent Spence study is complete, and Ohio and Kentucky transportation officials said they are reviewing it now. Details were not made available to The Enquirer, but it is clear that tolls are central to the plan.

Preliminary results of the study in February showed toll rates would range from $1 to $5 for passenger vehicles. Transportation officials say changes are being made to the plan, and final toll rates will be known in September.

STATES TARGET 2015 TO START WORK

The project schedule, according to the Federal Highway Administration, calls for construction on the 7.8-mile Brent Spence Bridge corridor to begin on Jan. 1, 2015, and end Nov. 1, 2022, depending on funding. Leaders say having the finance plan in place by this fall keeps the project on track. Construction of the bridge is scheduled to begin on June 1, 2016, and end Jan. 1, 2020.

A two-year delay in starting the project could increase its price tag by almost $300 million, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

“People should just be worried that the plan comes out and it’s right,” said Mark Policinski, executive director of OKI, the region’s transportation planning agency. “This project is proceeding much, much faster than what would’ve normally occurred under the traditional (federal government) way of doing this.”

The 49-year-old Brent Spence Bridge – part of the nation’s busiest freight corridor on I-75 – is “functionally obsolete” because of its narrow lanes, lack of emergency shoulders and limited visibility on the lower deck.

Plans call for a new, double-decker bridge west of the current Brent Spence Bridge on Interstates 71/75, rehabilitation of the current bridge and an overhaul of the corridor in Ohio and Kentucky that includes the bridge. ⬛